Our research assistants unanimously agree that the best part of the job is getting to connect with the friendly families (including grandparents, aunts and uncles, and sometimes even dogs—we’re looking at you, Buster!) that visit our research center every day. We feel incredibly fortunate to be so embraced by the Evanston community, and this holiday
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Imagine spending a beautiful day at the lake with your little one. As an English speaker, you might delight in sharing descriptions of the deep blue water, green grass, and light blue sky in front of you. But speakers of Berinmo, an indigenous language of Papua New Guinea, have a single term for the colors we
As you’ve probably noticed, very young babies would rather listen to human speech (especially yours!) than just about anything else. Developmental psychologists have been surprised to discover, however, that newborns prefer listening to both human language andnonhuman primate vocalizations over other interesting sounds. What’s more, in the first months of life they also prefer looking at
Very little research to date has examined the first crucial months of preterm infants’ language development, but a new study out of our center sheds light on preterm babies’ earliest links between language and thought. Let’s consider Holly and Salvador, two babies conceived on the same date. Both are due on September 1, but Holly
For decades, American children have grown up reading classic storybooks featuring animal protagonists like Curious George, The Berenstain Bears and Clifford the Big Red Dog. As parents and caregivers, many of us now delight in sharing these enduring characters with a new generation of little ones. During this ritual, we may be aware that in
As you push your toddler down the sidewalk in her stroller, a man walks by with a French Bulldog. “Look, a dog,” you say to her. A minute later, you pass a German Shepherd eyeing you from the first-floor window of a house. “Look, a dog,” you say. Over many such instances, the label you provide
It’s a scene that many of us are familiar with–a young child receives a new gift, eyes sparkling, only to cast the toy hastily aside and investigate the wrapped box that it came in instead, crinkling up the paper and testing what will fit inside. While it may be frustrating for parents who have carefully